Brian Welch
Headquarters, Washington, DC March 9, 2000
(Phone: 202/358-1600)
Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1727)
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1726)
NOTE TO EDITORS: N00-7
SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING REPORT AVAILABLE TODAY;
OTHER REVIEW REPORTS TO BE RELEASED THIS MONTH
The work of four review teams chartered by NASA to study its
programs and practices is nearing completion, with reports
scheduled for release today, next week and later in March.
The first report, to be released today, will be that of the
Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team, chartered in September
1999 and led by Ames Research Center Director Dr. Henry McDonald.
NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight Joseph Rothenberg
asked this independent technical team to study Space Shuttle
maintenance and operations processes, provide a perspective of
best practices in the aviation industry, and where applicable or
appropriate apply those practices to the Space Shuttle Program.
That report will be available on the NASA Home Page (www.nasa.gov)
at Noon Eastern time on Thursday.
Two additional reports will be released on Monday March 13,
also at Noon Eastern time via the NASA Home Page: the report on
Faster, Better, Cheaper Project Management, and the final Report
on Project Management in NASA by the Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap
Investigation Board.
The report led by former Mars Pathfinder Project Manager Tony
Spear was chartered by the Office of the Chief Engineer in mid-
1999 to make recommendations on a set of principles, tools and
processes for ensuring NASAšs success in adopting the "Faster,
Better, Cheaper" approach to project planning, management and
execution.
The Mars Climate Orbiter Phase I Report, released Nov. 10,
1999, identified the root cause and factors contributing to the
Mars Climate Orbiter failure. The charter for this Phase II
report, also led by Marshall Space Flight Center Director Art
Stephenson, is to derive lessons learned from that failure and
from other failed missions - as well as successful ones - and from
them create a formula for future mission success.
An additional report, from the Mars Independent Assessment
Team chaired by Thomas Young, will be available by the end of
March. The team was chartered by Associate Administrator for
Space Science Dr. Ed Weiler in the wake of the Mars Polar Lander
failure to evaluate recent successful and unsuccessful deep space
missions. Their assessment and findings will be considered in
planning for future Mars exploration missions.
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